Device for converting a crib to a bed

ABSTRACT

A device for converting a crib to a bed in the form of a spacer bracket with a locking arrangement, which spacer bracket is basically a U-shaped channel member with one vertical side of the channel extending higher than the other such side, the shorter side of the channel member having a perpendicular extension, said higher vertical side having bolt openings therein for attachment purposes to a bed headboard or a bed footboard, and said perpendicular extension of the shorter vertical side having an opening to receive a leg member for a regular bed, and where said perpendicular extension member serves as the vertical support member upon which portions of a bed spring member can rest.

United States Patent 1 Germano DEVICE FOR CONVERTING A CRIB TO A BED[76] Inventor: Bernard Germano, 5915 Buchanan,

Toledo, Ohio 43623 [22] Filed: May 14, 1971 [21] Appl. N0.: 143,336

[52] US. Cl. ..5/282 R, 5/93 B, 5/296 [51] Int. Cl ..A47c 19/02 [58]Field of Search ..5/296, 299, 288,

[56] References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS 6/1897 Newman et al ..5/30410/ l 931 Butkus .5/296 ll/l950 Wickman ..5/288 FOREIGN PATENTS ORAPPLICATIONS France ..S/296 [451 Apr. 17,1973

Primary Examiner-James T. McCall Assistant Examiner-Darrell MarquetteAttorney-George R. Royer [57] ABSTRACT A device for converting a crib toa bed in the form of a spacer bracket with a locking arrangement, which'spacer bracket is basically a U-shaped channel member with one verticalside of the channel extending higher than the other such side, theshorter side of the channel member having a perpendicular extension,said higher vertical side having bolt openings therein for attachmentpurposes to a bed headboard or a bed footboard, and said perpendicularextension of the shorter vertical side having an opening to receive aleg member for a regular bed, and where said perpendicular extensionmember serves as the vertical support member upon which portions of abed spring member can rest.

5 Claims, 7 Drawing Figures PATENTEB APR 1 H973 sum 1 UF 2 INVENTOR.BERNARD GERMANO ATTORNEY PATENTLUAFR 1 H915 3.721246 SHEU 2 OF 2 FIG. 4

p 7 ME m i i hub m WI INVENTOR.

BERNARD GERMANO FIG. 5 FI6.6

A TTORNEY DEVICE FOR CONVERTING A CRIB TO A BED BACKGROUND OF THEINVENTION This invention relates to that class of devices structured andintended to be used to convert beds of one type to another. Convertiblebeds as such are not new in the prior art. Also, devices which are usedin one specific way or another to help convert one bed into another typeare generally known in the prior art.

Notwithstanding the state of the development of the art in this generalarea, no device has been known and advanced which would provide a meansfor expediently converting a child s crib to a regular bed. Moreparticularly, a family is compelled at required intervals to purchase acrib for a baby, and then use this crib for the first three or fouryears of the child life. After this initial stage of child development,a smaller bed, and not a crib, is frequently used for a child of theapproximate age of five to twelve years. Economically, this requires thefamily to undergo the expense of purchasing a new bed for the child whohas just outgrown a crib. This latter financial difficulty could bealleviated by some means of converting a crib to a regular bed of smallsize, as circumstances dictate. Thus, some means for facilitating aconversion from a crib to a bed would appear to be justifiable andexpedient for the family raising several children. This latter aspectreveals a twofold value of such a conversion device, particularly inview of the fact that it would allow reconversion ofthe regular bed backto the crib, as required.

It is in view of the foregoing background and deft eiencies in thepertinent prior art that this invention is conceived, and consequently:

It is thus an object of this invention to provide an efficient devicefor facilitating the conversion of a crib to a regular bed;

It is also an object of this invention to provide a device whichimproves the stability of a bed converted from a crib;

It is still another object of this invention to provide an improved bedconversion device;

' It is a further object of this invention to provide an improved bedsupport device;

Other and further objects of this invention will become evident from thefollowing description of the preferred embodiment read in conjunctionwith the indicated drawings.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS FIG. 1 is a perspective view of aconventional crib 'which can be converted into a small conventional bedby use of the subject invention;

FIG. 2 is a perspective view of a small conventional bed into which thecrib in FIG. 1 can be converted;

FIG. 3 is a perspective view of the adapter device shown partially inphantom, which is used to convert a conventional pair of crib springs toa conventional bed;

FIG. 4 shows in perspective the arrangement of parts which the adapterdevice shown in FIG. 3 is used to combine together, beginning with apartial view of a bed headboard with fastening bolts indicated as FIG.4A; a fastening device, FIG. 48; a partial view of a conventional set ofbed springs used interchangeably between a crib and conventionalbed,'indicated as FIG. 4C; the adapter device seen also in FIG. 4D; aleg for the conventional bed, FIG. 4E;

FIG. 5 is a perspective view of a fastener device which may be used tosecure a leg to the springs and adapter device seen in FIG. 3;

FIG. 6 is a perspective view ofan alternate embodiment of the fastenerdevice seen in FIG. 5; and

FIG. 7 is a perspective view of an alternate embodiment of the adapterdevice.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION This invention is an adapter device used forconverting a crib to a conventional bed, the adapter device beingbasically a U-shaped-in-cross section flanged channel member having twovertical, parallel sides, one of which projects vertically upward fromand as part of one side of the channel member to an approximate heightwhich is double that of the other vertical side, the other vertical sidehaving a perpendicular extension which extends from the upper part ofsuch side in a direction away from the bottom of the channel. Thevertically protruding side which extends twice as high as the other suchside has two elongated holes therein situated one above the other, theseholes being the route of connection for appropriate screws or bolts toan adjacent bed headboard or footboard. The perpendicular extendingmember has a rectangular hole therein for receiving the upper portion ofa leg to be fastened to a set of springs for use on a conventional bed.The basic inventive concept perceives the use of four such adapterdevices at the four opposing corners of a pair of bed springs in orderthat four attachment points are made to the respective headboard andfoot board; as well as providing four points for securing legs to thebed. Additionally, should legs be permanently attaehed to the bedheadboard and footboard, the subject adapter device can be used tosecure the bed springs to the headboard and footboard without requiringfurther means to affix said adapter device to said springs.

DESCRIPTION or THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENT OF THE SUBJECT INVENTIONReferring now to the drawings in which a preferred embodiment of thesubject invention is shown, a conventional crib 20 is shown in FIG. 1.Crib 20, as shown, has elevated, vertical side rails 22 on each lateralside connecting an elevated, horizontal rail 24, with a horizontallydisposed lower rail 26. The elevated rails 24 and the lower rails 26 inturn. join a headboard 28 are integrally attached to headboard 28 andfootboard 30. The springs 31 can be moved vertically upward or downwardinto position in such brackets 34 for an appropriate horizontal level asdesired.

A conventional bed 40 is shown in FIG. 2. This bed 40 is not as large asthe usual single bed used by adults, it is rather a bed for a smallperson, and consequently,

I it is adapted to size and structure to use the same size springs andmattress as used in crib 20 represented in,

FIG. 1. The bed 40 in conjunction with the use of the subject invention,utilizes the set of springs 31 and mattress 32, which, as indicated, arethe same set of springs as used and seen in crib 20. In addition, bed 40has a rectangularly shaped headboard 42 and a rectangularly shapedfootboard 44, one or the other of which may be smaller than the other.The mattress 32 is placed on springs 31 as seen in FIG. 2. Bed 40 hasfour legs 46 disposed at the respective corners of the springs 31, suchlegs providing, by direct connection to the springs 31, the-verticalsupport for the bed components thusly described. In some variations ofheadboard 42 and footboard 44, the legs 46 may be integrally attached tothe respective ends of the footboard and headboard. The subjectinvention may be used as a conversion device in both the situation wherethe legs are attached directly to the footboard or headboard or in thesituation where the legs are separate and must be attached to the bed 40independently.

The set of springs 31 is basically arranged in a rectangular framehaving a longitudinally extending sidebar 50 on each side and laterallyextending end bars 52 on each end as seen in the partial view of FIG. 4.The sidebars 50 and the endbars are metallic with the sidebars beingL-shaped-in-cross section, while the endbars are generally channelmembers, being U- shaped-in-crosssection. The sidebars 50 and theendbars 52 are connected on their respective ends to one another by anappropriate weld or riveting, forming thereby a corner joint 53.Adjacent each corner joint 53 of the respective sidebars 50 and endbars52, there is a diagonally extending brace member 54 which connectsrespective sidebars 50 and end-bars 52. This brace member 54 is a flatrectangular shaped member extending at approximately 45 degrees to eachbar 50 and 52, as seen in FIG. 4C. The drawing in FIG. 4C

only shows one sidebar 50 and one endbar 52 at their respective jointconnection 53, however, the remaining bars and their connections aresimilar to those shown and described.

Four adapter brackets 60, such as the one represented in FIGS. 3 and 4Dare provided to join the set of crib springs 31 for crib 20 to theheadboard 42 and footboard 44 in order to construct thereby the bed 40.Each adapter bracket 60 is basically a U-shaped-incross section channelmember of approximately 2-3 inches in longitudinal length, with twovertically upward extending sides 62 and 64, which extend in parallelplanes, the width between such sides 62 and 64 being slightly largerthan the length of each of the respective channel sides of the U-shapedendbar S2. A horizontal base leg defines the bottom of the channelbetween legs 62 and 64. The upward extending leg 62 extends verticallyupward to about twice the distance of vertical leg 64. Verticallyextending leg 64 has a height which is slightly higher than the verticalheight of endbar 52. In addition, leg 64 has horizontal extension leg 66which extends from the uppermost portion of leg 64 in a directionperpendicular to the vertical plane ofleg 64.

Machined into the central portion of vertically extending leg 62 are twoholes 68A and 688. These holes 68A and 68B are elongated in a directionparallel to the plane of the horizontal base leg 65, being about threetimes as long as they are high. These holes are adapted to receive boltor screw members 70, as seen in FIG. 4A, for affixing the outside faceof leg 62'to a headboard or footboard. Machined into the central portionof perpendicularly extending leg 66 is a rectangular opening 72.

The adapter device 60 is used as described below. The crib 20 isdismantled with the springs 31 being separated from the headboard 28 andfootboard 30,

and the vertical side rails 22 and horizontal rails 26 and 24. Anadapter device 60 is then fitted onto that portion of endbar 52 adjacenteach corner juncture 53, as seen in FIG. 4. More particularly, the barmember 52 is caused to be inserted in the channel of device 60 with thebottom of the bar member 52 being adjacent to base member 65. Once theends of each endbar 52 are so inserted, the outer face of each leg 62 onadapter device 60 on the head end of springs 31 is caused to be placedagainst the headboard 42 and correspondingly the outer faces of legs 62on adapter devices on the foot end of springs 31 are placed againstfootboard 44. Then bolt or screws 70 are inserted through holes 68A and688 to lock the adapter devices 60 to the bed headboard 42 or bedfootboard 44 respectively. Once so secured, the perpendicular leg 66will extend under the adjoining portion of springs 31 such that the leg66 will rest partially under a diagonal support brace member 54, 54, andsuch that rectangular opening .72 will be fully exposed through thetriangular space defined by sidebar 52, endbar 50 and diagonal crossbrace 54. Once the adapter device is so affixed, if a bed headboard 42or footboard does not have the legs attached thereto a leg 73 with anupward protruding screw 74 and shoulders 75 is placed upright such thatthe leg 66 rests on shoulders 75 of leg 73 with the upwardly protrudingscrew projecting vertically upward through the opening 72 to such aheight that will enable it to extend beyond the upper height limit ofthe lateral bars 52 and 50. Once so placed, it is desirable but notessential to use a rectangular fastening device as seen in FIGS. 5 and4B, to secure the leg 73 to the springs. More specifically, therectangular fastening device has a threaded hole 82 which is adapted towind onto the screw 74 on leg 73 and clamp the leg 73 firmly to thesprings 30. If a headboard or footboard having legs is used the steps ofinserting the legs are not needed, the leg 66 serving then as a verticalsupport device to hold springs 31. When the four adapter devices 60 arethusly secured to the headboards 42 and footboard 44 of bed 40 the stepsof converting crib 20 to bed 40 are completed except with the final stepof placing mattress 32 onto the springs 31.

An alternate embodiment of the subject invention is shown in FIG. 7, asan adapter device 60 structured particularly as a conversion device forsituations when a bed footboard 42 and headboard 44 have legs directlyaffixed thereto. Specifically, adapter device 60A is basically aU-shaped-cross-section channel member with vertical legs 62A and 64Abeing of the same relative height as adapter device 60. Leg 62 haselongated holes 68C and 68D therein of the same size and location asholes 68A and 68B. However, leg 64A has a horizontal and perpendicularextension 66A which extends in a direction perpendicular to the verticalplane of leg 64A. Leg 66A is a V-shaped-in-cross section member whichhas the same vertical extent as leg 64A. More particularly, a V-shapedgroove 72A is machined into leg 66A and opens into the inner face of leg64A and runs therefrom for the entire length of leg 66A, such groovebeing open at the outer end of leg 66A also. The adapter device 60A isaffixed to a headboard 42, a footboard as thusly described for adapterdevice 60, however, its positioning is such that it is placed in anoverlapping position to cornerjuncture 53 of springs 31. Once sosituated the down rail extending leg of sidebar 50 is seated in groove72A for vertical support of springs 31. Shown in FIG. 6 is an alternateform of a brace plate to be used in securing the legs to the bed.

The foregoing description is set forth as an exemplification of apreferred embodiment of the subject invention and is not intended tolimit the scope of the following claims.

What is claimed is: j

1. An adapter device for converting crib springs to a regular bed havinga headboard and footboard and comprising:

A. a channel member having a first and second vertically extending side,and

B. a flange plate member extending from and attached to the upperportion of the second vertically extending side, said flange platemember extending substantially perpendicular to said second verticallyextending side, said perpendicularly extending flange plate memberhaving an opening therein for receiving a portion of a leg of said bed,said channel member and said flange plate member supporting said cribsprings,

C. said first vertically extending side having a plurality of holestherein for receiving bolts to be attached to the headboard or footboardof said bed.

2. An adapter device for affixing springs to a bed headboard orfootboard comprising:

A. a U-shaped-in-cross section channel member having a first and secondvertically extending side, and a bottom horizontal member joining saidfirst and second vertically extending sides, the said first verticalside having a plurality of holes therein for 3. An adapter device asdescribed in claim 1 in which the first vertical side has a plurality ofholes therein for receiving bolts to be attached to the headboard orfootboard of said bed which first vertical side is higher than saidsecond vertical side.

4. An adapter device as described in claim 2 in which the perpendicularextension has an elongated depression therein for receiving a portion ofsaid springs which is open on the upper surface of the perpendicularextension member, as well as being open on both ends of suchperpendicular extension.

5. An adapter device for converting crib springs to a set of springs fora regular bed having a headboard and footboard and legs comprising:

A. a U-shaped-in-cross section channel member;

1. said channel member having a first and second vertically extendingside; a horizontal base member joining the first and second saidvertical sides, said base member sides;

3. said first vertical side having a plurality of holestherein forreceiving bolts to be attached to the bed headboard or footboard;

. said second vertical side having a perpendicular extension extendingin a direction perpendicular to the vertical plane of said secondvertical side, and extending away from the first vertical side, saidperpendicular extension having an opening therethrough for receiving aleg of said bed;

B. means for securing said bed leg to said adapter device.

1. An adapter device for converting crib springs to a regular bed havinga headboard and footboard and comprising: A. a channel member having afirst and second vertically extending side, and B. a flange plate memberextending from and attached to the upper portion of the secondvertically extending side, said flange plate member extendingsubstantially perpendicular to said second vertically extending side,said perpendicularly extending flange plate member having an openingtherein for receiving a portion of a leg of said bed, said channelmember and said flange plate member supporting said crib springs, C.said first vertically extending Side having a plurality of holes thereinfor receiving bolts to be attached to the headboard or footboard of saidbed.
 2. An adapter device for affixing springs to a bed headboard orfootboard comprising: A. a U-shaped-in-cross section channel memberhaving a first and second vertically extending side, and a bottomhorizontal member joining said first and second vertically extendingsides, the said first vertical side having a plurality of holes thereinfor receiving bolts to be attached to the headboard or footboard of saidbed, the said second vertical side having an extension thereto which issubstantially perpendicular to the vertical plane of said secondvertical side, said channel member and said extension supporting saidsprings.
 2. a horizontal base member joining the first and second saidvertical sides, said base member adapted for receiving a portion of thecrib springs between said first and second vertical sides;
 3. said firstvertical side having a plurality of holes therein for receiving bolts tobe attached to the bed headboard or footboard;
 3. An adapter device asdescribed in claim 1 in which the first vertical side has a plurality ofholes therein for receiving bolts to be attached to the headboard orfootboard of said bed which first vertical side is higher than saidsecond vertical side.
 4. An adapter device as described in claim 2 inwhich the perpendicular extension has an elongated depression thereinfor receiving a portion of said springs which is open on the uppersurface of the perpendicular extension member, as well as being open onboth ends of such perpendicular extension.
 4. said second vertical sidehaving a perpendicular extension extending in a direction perpendicularto the vertical plane of said second vertical side, and extending awayfrom the first vertical side, said perpendicular extension having anopening therethrough for receiving a leg of said bed; B. means forsecuring said bed leg to said adapter device.
 5. An adapter device forconverting crib springs to a set of springs for a regular bed having aheadboard and footboard and legs comprising: A. a U-shaped-in-crosssection channel member;